Hindustan Tibet Road & NH – 22 | Interesting Places

After an introduction of both Hindustan Tibet Road and NH-22 along with the differences between them in first article, in this article we will look at the major attractions or places of interest that falls on or around Hindustan – Tibet Road and NH-22. If you are making a journey to Spiti Valley then below information along with article of most common itinerary for Spiti Valley can prove quite handy. In this article, I will try to dissect the whole Hindustan Tibet Road and NH-22 into various sections of interest and will try to provide as much info. as possible for those sections so that you make your journey to Spiti Valley ever memorable 🙂

Interesting Places on Hindustan Tibet Road or NH-22

Shimla – Kufri – Narkanda – Rampur – Sarahan

Shimla is the place where you start your journey on Hindustan Tibet Road and is extremely popular tourist destination. Mostly, either people reach Shimla on first day and those who want to stay away from hustle bustle, they opt for Narkanda for the the first night stay.

You can visit Kufri, another tourist destination, while on the move from Shimla to Narkanda and just ahead of Kufri there are lots of hotels at a town named Fagu which also can be used for overnight stay at first day in between Shimla and Narkanda.

Depending upon time on hands, one can also visit Hatu Peak from Narkanda to see a lovely sunset or enjoy snow, if present.

Rampur is a major town in Himachal Pradesh and can be used as lunch stop on Day two on the way to either Sarahan or Sangla / Kalpa from Shimla / Narkanda.

Just ahead of Rampur, there is a U-Turn off the main highway on right which takes you all the way to Sarahan about 16 KMs from there. If time is not an issue, you can surely stay at Sarahan which is a very quite place with some nice views.

Technically, Saharan, Sangla, Chitkul, Reckong Peo and Kalpa are NOT over Hindustan – Tibet Highway but generally they are used for night stops on a journey to Spiti Valley over Hindustan Tibet Road or NH-22. All of them being very beautiful are not the places to be missed 🙂

Saharan, Sangla, Chitkul, Kalpa can also be clubbed as a 6-7 day trip ex. Delhi if someone is short on the days in hand. A trip to Kinnaur Valley does include all these places only. Hence, I will cover them in depth in upcoming article on Travel Guide to Kinnaur Valley.

Reckong Peo is the head quarter of Kinnaur Valley and permits for Kinnaur Valley regions are issued from Reckong Peo only.

Chitkul is the last village in India about 30 odd KMs ahead of Sangla and surely one of the most beautiful places to visit.

Just before U-turn of Reckong Peo, a village Powari has a Petrol pump on road which shall not be missed at any cost for refuelling because next petrol pump is at Kaza.

Kinnaur Valley | Kalpa – Namgia – Shipki La – Khab Bridge

The road conditions between Reckong Peo to Ribba and Spillow to Dubling are generally very bad in shape.

Puh is a major town where you can get various things from Puh General Store and there is a PWD rest house as well 4-5 KMs off the main road.

Akpa is a places where there was a major landslide that hit in 1995 killing about 100 including soldiers and alignment was changed with construction of 350 feet Akpa bridge in 2006, a good 11 years after the landslide tragedy. There is also a stone near the bridge with the names of the fallen soldiers.

After Akpa as you move ahead, you need to register yourself at Lippa – Jangi Police Post. Again foreigners need to show their permits and Indians need to show a valid photo identity proof.

Getting to Shipki La is different story as it is a pass that connects India and Tibet. The route to Shipki La comes before Nako or Ka Zigs (loops) and just before the Khab bridge (about 2 KMs), you will see a Y-Fork uphill going towards Khab Village – Namgia – Shipki La I guess it is about 40 KMs from the highway and then you are only allowed to go to Namgia village.

From Namgia Village, the road ascends to Shipki La and again a lot of things depend if the guys at the posts allow you to go there. Plus be ready for good session of interrogations and all sought of gadgets packed in the bag including the camera, because photography is strictly prohibited there. I have known just two guys who have done Shipki La and one of them really had tough time with the ITBP guys who deposited all his electronic gadgets before allowing him to venture ahead. On return he was allowed to take them back… So, it is quite an adventure but again they both were bikers and I am not sure how they will react seeing the car over there…

Namgia Dogri is your best bet for the view of Reo Purgyal Peak but as civilian you will be allowed up to Namgia Village only. Villagers from Namgia can only go up to Dogri. But, you can get a view of Reo Purgyal from Khab Bridge as well 🙂

If you are interested to know more about the silk route in detail then better talk to some old people from villages like Namgia, Nako, Nesang, Dubling and Chitkul villages.

Khab is a place where there is a bridge over the confluence of Spiti River and Sutluj River Just ahead of the bridge, you cross a section which is carved out of the mountain almost like a one wall tunnel 🙂 … Technically, Khab Bridge is not on Hindustan Tibet Road but on NH-22

China is not far away from here… On the way to Namgia / Khab Villages…

The famous carved roads near Khab Bridge…

Kinnaur Valley | Khab – Nako – Malling Nalla – Chango – Sumdo

After Khab bridge, you feel out of the world and then an ascend of Ka Loops takes you to one of the most picturesque villages in the world Nako Nako is also famous for its Nako Lake, a small lake with a beautiful backdrop – not to be missed.

As you move further, you meet the dreaded Malling Nalla, the most troublesome spot of entire Hindustan Tibet Road. It is almost a landslide zone 24 X 7 X 365 🙂 … In monsoon time, your heart will pound like anything to cross over this section of the road.

Once you cross Malling, then a steep descend will take you all the way down to Chango Village. be carefull on you descend as it is quite steep. Chango is a place where you see loads of Apple Orchards. Do not miss the chance to buy some golden apples or apricots, if possible or available.

Finally, you reach Sumdo and this is where you will see the sign board of “Welcome to Spiti Valley” and you exit Kinnaur Valley. At Sumdo, you need to register yourself again at police check post as the region fall under Inner Line permit zone or near LAC (Line of Actual Control) and Foreigners need to submit their copy permits at Sumdo (Refer link here for more details)

Kah Loops towards Nako…

The Ever Calm – Nako Lake…

Sitting High and Pretty near Nako… The White Queen…

Curving its way up towards deadly Malling Nalla…

What a view just after Malling Nalla…

BRO Creates, Connects and Cares… So, true…

Spiti Valley | Sumdo – Kaurik – Geyu Mummy – Tabo

Just ahead of Sumdo comes the most interesting part, the Y-Fork that leads you uphill to Kaurik. Kaurik is a mysterious place which was deserted some 25-28 years back in earthquake/flash floods and now you can find ruins of the place if you are ready to hike a bit once the road ends after about 19 KMs. Beyond Kaurik, there is a village called Lepcha which requires you to further hike about an hour or so. Lepcha is the last place in India you can reach and ahead lies Tibet beyond the Indo-Tibet Border ends. Anyhow, Kaurik falls under a restricted area as far as I know and permits are hard to find for Kaurik. So, best bet is to land there and ask the permissions from army guys if you can pass through. If they say yes, then go ahead and explore this amazing mysterious place in Spiti Valley.

No permits are issued for Kaurik and Shipki La by any direct access. It may be possible with some contacts but I haven’t heard anything about it. Best bet is to land there directly and then you need to be lucky enough to assure the guy at the post that you will just return without any trouble. You might found some accounts over Internet who have done it this way only.

Though, not exactly on Hindustan Tibet Road or NH-22, I will still cover Geyu Village here as it is not far from Sumdo check post. When you further move ahead towards Tabo on SH-30 from Sumdo, there comes a diversion towards right that takes you to Geyu Village. Geyu Village is famous for 500+ year old mummy which is present in this village. It will take you about 2 Hrs to visit Geyu from the diversion point.

Sumdo checkpost from where the Spiti valley starts…

Finally the views from Spiti Valley starts alongside Spiti River…

The Geyu diversion where the 550+ odd year old mummy resides…

Burning Colors of Spiti Valley…

Tabo – Dhankar – Lingti Valley – Rama Valley – Pin Valley – Kaza

We will be covering Tabo, Dhankar, Pin Valley, Lingti Valley, Rama Valley, Kaza in much more detail in upcoming Travel Guide for Spiti Valley Local sightseeing.

Leading us to heaven – Spiti Valley…

Conclusion

I hope the above details about the whole Hindustan Tibet Road would make your journey much more beautiful, fascinating and informational in terms of context of Travel. If you have been to this breath-taking journey or will be under taking it, please do share the info. with us as well and help other travellers build the knowledge about this at least once in a lifetime journey.

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Been following this amazing blog for the past one and a half year. I am planning a travel to Spiti (especially Chandra Taal) on between April 30 to May 6th 2017. What are the probabilities of Rohtang Pass being open by then and how should I plan my travel from Shimla, considering that I will have only six days in hand (excluding to and fro Chennai).

Is it possible to do this for four people with around 8K per person (excluding train fare/airfare) as the budget?

If not, which place do you suggest, with the given budget, to see some beautiful snow capped mountains during the first week of May? This is going to be a family trip.

Smita, unfortunately, Chandratal is not accessible before at least month of June. The road from Rohtang Pass towards Chandratal opens by first or second week of June only. So, with just 6 days in hand you can only make trip to Chandratal from Manali side. Hence, I will suggest to make this trip in the month of June – July or in September.

Hi DOW
Our planning to Leh coming June with 2 other friends from Delhi to Narkanda, Rampur Spiti, Please inform me about total Km from Delhi to Leh via Hindustan Tibet Road and road conditions also we have SUV. Via Manali to Leh already covered by Bike .

Nasim, are you interested in KM or are you interested in the route? If by route and days then stops that you will need are Narkanda, Sangla/Kalpa, Tabo, Kaza (depends how many days now you want to spend in Kaza to explore Spiti), Keylong, Leh.

If you do not have these days and want to continue driving long hours every day then it will be Narkanda, Kalpa, Kaza, Keylong, Leh.

Chikul will be closed by that time Akash. Only limited hotels will be open, may be check with PRakash Guest House in Sangla if they are open during that time. Road to Rakcham might be closed too and I do not think that any compaing site will be operational during that time.

i ma planning to visit Leh Ladakh belt starting from 30th Sep 2016 (Chandigarh) till 14th Oct 2016 (Delhi). i have a few queries:
1. I will self drive with wife and son on my Santro Xing. Is it doable on a Santro?
2. Can you please guide me on a day wise breakup ?
3. Will the Raid De Himalayas (7th oct till 15th oct) be any hindrance?
4. Any idea about camping around Pangong Lake around the 7th / 8th Oct ?

The time you are planning the tip with family, I will suggest to avoid it. Srinagar is not doable and Manali – Leh Highway is not recommended in October to travel. Till first week as well it is at time fine but beyond that I cannot recommend it with family. You can read few reasons here: 5 Reasons to Avoid Manali – Leh Highway in October

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